On 25 August 2026, your phone vibrates. A video is circulating, presented as proof of an ultra-realistic Chinese sex robot. Within hours, it surpasses one million views (Pasquale Pillitteri). You watch, fascinated, frightened, or simply curious. But there is a detail you did not see. It is not a robot. It is a person in a motion capture suit, performing positions on a treadmill (Pasquale Pillitteri).
The fantasy that freaked out the internet
The company behind this video is called Somnia Lab. It uses this capture data to develop a companion robot named Model L (Pasquale Pillitteri). The optical system used in the video is the Chingmu, of Chinese manufacture (Pasquale Pillitteri). The video began circulating from Somnia Lab’s official account on 25 August 2026 (Pasquale Pillitteri). The effect is immediate: the public believes in a major breakthrough. But reality is colder. The company confirms in writing that the Model L robot does not walk (Pasquale Pillitteri). It is designed solely for the bedroom (Pasquale Pillitteri).
The Model L is offered for pre-order on the website somnia.love, with delivery promised by the end of 2027 (Pasquale Pillitteri). The dimensions and weight of the four versions (Basic, Pro, Pro Max, Founder Edition) range from 165 to 175 cm and from 22 to 55 kg (Pasquale Pillitteri). The site now indicates more than 100 sexual interactions, with others to arrive via OTA updates, whereas 165 positions were promised in August (Pasquale Pillitteri). Pre-order deposits for the Basic, Pro, and Pro Max versions are set at 300, 500, and 2,000 dollars respectively, fully refundable until the order is confirmed (Pasquale Pillitteri). An optional cloud subscription will be required for long-term memory and more advanced intelligence, with prices to be announced (Pasquale Pillitteri). The first deliveries are scheduled for the United States, Japan, and certain Western European countries, with anonymous shipping (Pasquale Pillitteri). Somnia Lab published a warning on its X account stating that it has no affiliation with the $SOMNIA crypto token and has issued no token (Pasquale Pillitteri).
And if you were wondering if it was a trap, watch the video one more time. The person in the suit is not a robot. They are an actor. But the video has done its job: it has planted the idea in your head. The idea that the intimate robot is coming. That the boundary between human and machine is blurring in intimacy. That your relationship, your private life, will be touched by this technology. And while you digest this video, something more real is happening on the other side of the world.
The bedroom robot that is already up for pre-order
The Model L is not the only one playing with your fears and desires. It is the mirror of an industry advancing at two speeds. On one side, the viral fantasy, the decoy, the video that makes the buzz. On the other, industrial reality, cold, calculated, advancing in the shadows. The bedroom robot does not walk, but it is already up for pre-order. It is there, in your living room, in the form of an anonymous box that will arrive at your door in 2027. It is there, in your head, in the form of a question: what if it were true? What if the robot that will enter your home were not the fantasy of the video, but a 65 kg humanoid that has already walked?
The answer lies in China. On 8 September 2026, the car manufacturer Xpeng inaugurated an automated production line for its humanoid robot IRON (Science et vie). A unit of the IRON robot left the assembly line on its two legs, without being carried or guided, on 8 September 2026 (Science et vie). The IRON robot’s production line is more than 80% automated, according to Xpeng (Science et vie). The IRON humanoid robot is approximately 1.73 metres tall and weighs 65 kilos (Science et vie). The IRON robot has 76 degrees of freedom, including 21 for each hand (Science et vie). The IRON robot is capable of moving up to 2 metres per second (Science et vie). The IRON robot integrates three in-house chips totalling 2,250 tera-operations per second (Science et vie). Mass production of the IRON robot is announced for the end of 2026 (Science et vie). Commercial deliveries of the IRON robot are scheduled from 2027, in China first and then abroad (Science et vie). The IRON robot is equipped with autonomous charging, allowing it to reach its charging station on its own when its batteries run low (Science et vie). He Xiaopeng, President and CEO of XPeng, attended the commissioning ceremony of the production line alongside the IRON robot (Science et vie).
The 65 kg humanoid that walked, it, leaves the factory
Imagine the scene. A factory. Metal. Cables. A 65-kilogram robot stands up. It does not run, it does not dance. It walks. It leaves the assembly line on its two legs, without being carried or guided (Science et vie). It is a fact. Not a video. Not a decoy. A robot that walks.
The IRON robot is not a fantasy. It is an industrial reality. It measures 1.73 metres, weighs 65 kilos, and can move at 2 metres per second (Science et vie). It has 76 degrees of freedom, including 21 for each hand (Science et vie). It integrates three in-house chips totalling 2,250 tera-operations per second (Science et vie). It recharges its batteries on its own (Science et vie). It is produced in mass from the end of 2026 (Science et vie). It will be delivered commercially from 2027 (Science et vie). And it will arrive in China first, then abroad (Science et vie).
And if the robot that will enter your home were not the fantasy of the video, but a 65 kg humanoid that has already walked? What if your home were no longer your sanctuary, but a space shared with a machine that walks, that recharges, that learns? What if your relationship had to accommodate a third party that does not sleep, does not age, does not judge? What if your children grew up with a robot that observes them, helps them, protects them? What if your parents had a robot that accompanies them, monitors them, reassures them?
The video of the sex robot was not a robot. It was a decoy. A distorting mirror. But the 65 kg robot that walked, it, is real. It is leaving the factory. And you are not ready. Not yet. Not at all.